Racing fans should know better than to bet against Mike Smith. The veteran jockey piloted 37-1 longshot Princess of Sylmar to an upset win at the Kentucky Oaks this afternoon.

The Kentucky Oaks is the “sister” race to the Derby and features 3 year old fillies.

So how does this impact the Derby? Certainly lots of people were watching John Velazquez who was on Dreaming of Julia. Valazquez cracked a rib and chipped a bone in his wrist in a fall at Aqueduct on April 7th.  He was laid up for three and a half weeks, returning to racing just yesterday.  His mount for the Derby is the heavily favored Verrazano, but is he strong enough?

And Mike Smith is set to ride another underdog in the race: Palace Malice. He’s  breaking from Gate position 10 which is exactly where Giacomo started when Smith won the Derby on him in 2005.